Published 4:00 am, Thursday, May 28, 1998

With funding for a new transit village on the same parcel and adjoining land at least 10 years away, BART Director Joel Keller said the lot would be an "interim solution" for harried commuters hunting for parking.

The Bay Point/Pittsburg lot is full by early morning most weekdays, leading BART officials this week to take a step toward purchasing the parcel to provide more parking.

"We're 10 years away from attracting the necessary capital to make the station transit center what we would like it to be," Keller said. "This is a reasonable step to bridge the time period.

"I don't want it to become a problem for the neighborhood where the lot is at capacity and people are parking their cars in the neighborhood illegally."

About 10,000 people a day ride BART from the Pittsburg/Bay Point station.

Commuter Josi Sobel, a Pittsburg resident who uses the Bay Point station to get to work in San Francisco four times a week, said more parking is sorely needed.

"I've gotten there late, and I grit my teeth because I'm not sure I'll find parking sometimes," Sobel said. When she does find parking after circling around, it is often at the far end of the lot.

BART officials have discussed expanding parking at other stations such as the new Dublin/ Pleasanton station, where parking is at capacity, but the Pittsburg plan is the only one moving forward, Keller said.

On Tuesday, the BART board voted to authorize district staff to negotiate with land owner Albert Seeno Jr. for the purchase of the vacant 3.45-acre parcel next to the Pittsburg station.

The next step will be for BART to contact Seeno to determine a price, then look for the money. It is estimated that building a parking lot would cost $2.1 million, less than half the cost of building a parking garage, Keller said. BART needs the extra spaces to augment the 2,000 spaces now at the station.

The transit village, which would include high-density housing, commercial, bus and pedestrian access and a parking garage, is currently being studied for its environmental impacts.

"BART will do everything it can working with the city and county to have the transit village become a reality as quickly as possible," Keller said. "There is no way to look into a crystal ball to know how long development will take. It appears there will be a delay before the transit village will be a reality."

George De La Cruz, a Bay Point Municipal Advisory Council member who helped Pittsburg, Contra Costa county and BART come up with a plan to build the transit village -- which the BART board adopted in November -- said he is hopeful the project will still go forward.

"We're talking about ideal property," De La Cruz said yesterday. "Twenty-nine hundred homes have already been approved nearby. When the home market becomes built-out in the surrounding area, I frankly think there will be a developer stepping forward."